Winter
by Glamdring804
Summary: A Fallen ketch has been spotted near a Golden Age Warmind complex. The secrets it contains could endanger the whole system.


_TYPE: GUARDIAN AFTER ACTION DEBRIEF [000236]_

 _ORIGIN: Forwards Operation Base M-01 - Designation "Rangers' Den"_

 _AUTHOR: Captain Linvana, Martian Field Commander_

 _DESTINATION: Provisional Vanguard Headquarters, Wall Sector 74_

 _RECIPIENT: Vanguard Commander Zavala_

 _REPORT FOLLOWS_

 _At approximately 16:30 local Martian time, we received a transmission from Vanguard Scout-Leader Cayde-6 informing us that the heat signature of a Fallen ketch had been detected in the Mare Australe Quadrangle, near the Schmidt Badlands._

 _A classified Hidden report detailed the presence of an old warsat launch facility in the vicinity. In the past, the Fallen have aggressively pursued anything related to the Warmind network they could get their claws on. With this in mind, Cayde-6 requested that any available Guardians travel to the location immediately and investigate._

 _Myself and Martian Scout-Leader Telysa responded. We flew in a sub-orbital arc and arrived in the Schmidt Badlands at approximately 17:15. The launch facility is situated at the base of a crater. We landed on the far side of the rim and reconnaissanced the complex._

 _CONTINUED_

* * *

"I recognize that ketch," Telysa whispered, cold dread settling in her stomach.

The Fallen ship hung over the icy landscape like a dagger leveled at the setting sun. Its single oversized engine glowered in the twilight like a burning eye, barely visible through the haze of windblown snow.

A cluster of dark, industrial buildings huddled at the base of the crater slope, almost directly underneath the ketch. In the distance beyond, a sheer wall of ice rose across the horizon, even towering over the half-kilometer long ship. The ice wall bisected the crater bowl, entombing half the depression underneath countless tons of frozen water. The landscape before the wall was a brutal, barren stretch of exposed brown rock and frozen gray dirt. The bitter wind sliced like knives, whipping the thin frost and snow into a pelt of tiny, frozen blades.

"You do?" Linvana asked, hunkered down beside Telysa.

The Hunter adjusted her sniper rifle, focusing on the prow of the beige ketch, as an anxious knot formed in her stomach. The symbol of the new Fallen house, the one the Hidden called the House of Dusk, was painted on the side. But there was an older, more weathered symbol beside it. It was the symbol of the House of Winter, with a few extra marks beside it, marking it as the ship of a special faction of Winter Fallen.

She shivered, despite the insulated warmth of her fieldweave.

"I hoped I would never see that ship again," Telysa said. She pressed her hand to her earpiece. "Cayde, this ketch used to be a House of Winter Splicership."

"Winter Splicers?" Cayde's voice crackled, "They were never very powerful, or very numerous. And they lost Grayris and her ketch in the Taken War. Which means the only one left…"

"Belongs to Akraviks," Telysa finished.

Cayde was silent for a moment. "Oh that's bad."

"Who's Akraviks?" Linvana asked.

"Akraviks is a Welder Captain," Cayde explained, "Used to be the leader of the Winter Splicers. Made a lot of noise a few months back, consolidating his power on Venus. My scouts think he was making a play for Kell. Then he just up and vanished with the rest of the house."

Telysa closed her eyes and exhaled. What Cayde just told Linvana was the simple version. The one that didn't describe the pain and horror she'd been through on Venus so long ago.

"So what's he doing here?" Linvana asked, "How did he even find this place anyways? It's pretty damn remote."

"That Gunslinger of yours, Dellander, he mentioned something about Akraviks back at the start of the war. Didn't pay much attention to it because we were all trying to not get killed by the Cabal.

"But anyways," Cayde continued, "He's here now, and that means the Fallen are poking the Warmind network again. And nothing good ever came out of that. I assume you two know what to do?"

"Figure out what Akraviks is after, stop him, and kill him if we can," Linvana said.

Telysa clenched her jaw and continued to glare at the distant ketch. She had spent years running from the aftermath of that terrible mission. And right out of the blue, it had found her anyways.

"Perfect," Cayde said, "Just what you signed up for, with your whole forwards operating base shtick. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to deal with some noise about a new Cabal leader on Nessus. I'll be on the other channel, so uh, holler if you need me? Cayde out."

The line went silent with a click. Linvana glanced at Telysa.

"You've dealt with this guy before," the Titan said, "I'm guessing he must be some serious business if you didn't kill him the first time."

"He…" Telysa exhaled and forced herself to focus on the present. Venus was years ago. She was over it. She had to be.

"Yes. He's dangerous," she continued, "Things went…badly the last time I fought him. He's the reason I left my old fireteam."

"That bad huh? You don't talk much about your old team. Did he kill one of them?"

"Not quite…but it's a long story. One I don't have time to tell right now." And it wasn't exactly a story she wanted to tell either. She decided to change the subject. "Azul, is that dust storm we flew over still heading this way?"

"It's about half an hour out," Azul said, "And judging by ionization levels in the lower stratosphere, it's rapidly maturing into a full-on Arc storm."

"Well this will be fun," Linvana declared, "Come on, we don't have time to waste."

* * *

 _After identifying the leader of the Fallen as the notorious Winter Splicer Akraviks (See references 1 & 3), we descended into the crater, using a run of deposited boulders as cover. The wind picked up as we traveled, and by the time we reached the compound, visibility was reduced to 100 meters. We were confident our approach was undetected. _

_We entered the complex as the brunt of the storm hit. Conditions rapidly went from uncomfortable to downright hostile. With the windblown dust and frost, visibility was even further reduced. We made our way towards the center of Fallen activity, eliminating any guards we encountered._

 _CONTINUED_

* * *

Telysa ejected the empty magazine from her pulse rifle and replaced it with a fresh one from her belt. The sleek, dark blue weapon felt unusually light and jittery in her hands. Thankfully, she'd kept her hands from actually trembling, but she could feel the tension in her arms and legs.

A short distance in front of her, Linvana slammed her fist into the last dreg. A burst of incandescent embers flared in the dusty twilight, and the dreg crumpled.

Telysa exhaled and tried to center herself. She hadn't had nerves this bad in years. Had she really made so little progress? She thought she was stronger than this.

"Tel," Lin's voice snapped in her ear. She started slightly, and realized she'd been staring off into the distance as ether dripped from her bayonet.

"Yeah," Telysa replied. With their helmets linked, she didn't have to speak up to be heard over the howling wind.

"Lots of movement ahead," Linvana said, "We're close. Stay sharp."

"Right," Telysa said. She clutched her pulse rifle and followed Linvana.

The wind howled down the covered walkway, throwing sheets of dust and frost against the Guardians. Lightning flashed brilliantly above, followed by a sharp crack of thunder.

"I'm detecting movement underneath us as well," Azul added, "They're in the lower levels of the bunker."

"Then we need to find a way down," Linvana said.

"Akraviks won't be down there," Telysa noted, "He'll be up here while his minions do the work."

"He'll have to wait," Linvana said. She glanced down the walkway, towards where a column of blue light connected to the bottom of the ketch to the ground. Dark shapes moved in the gravity lift's glow. "They're loading something into the ketch. They built warsats in this place. Who knows what kind of weapons were left lying around."

"There's a stairway to the lower levels in the adjacent building," Linvana's Ghost said, before the Titan could continue the line of thought.

Linvana turned to the nearest doorway and kicked it in. Telysa reluctantly followed.

The interior was largely what she'd come to expect from golden-age engineering. Metal floor and walls, with hard lines and lots of rust. The gloom of the storm and the twilight made it almost completely dark inside.

Their Ghosts lit up, revealing a stair way in the back of the room. The corridor at the bottom was typical of a Warmind installation, with angled sides and dark corners.

"Interesting," Azul noted, "I'm detecting current behind the wall. This place still has power running through it."

"These bunkers were designed to whether the apocalypse," Linvana said quietly, "Which in the end, they did."

After a short distance, a faint light became visible ahead.

"Lots of movement ahead," Polaris warned.

They slowed, and carefully peeked around the corner. About a dozen Fallen filled the corridor ahead, clustered around a dark metal door set into the wall. Four dregs were attempting to pry the door open with spears, while a pair of vandals watched. More dregs waited nearby. The illumination came from a number of orange glow-sticks jammed into the floor.

They slid back around the corner. Lin held her hand up and counted down with her fingers. _Three. Two. One_.

Linvana jumped around the corner and opened fire. The muzzle of her black auto-rifle flashed in the dim light. The Fallen shouted and hissed as three of their number collapsed. The dregs in front of the door dropped their spears and scrambled to draw their pistols.

Telysa dashed past Lin as the Titan ducked back behind the corner and reloaded. Several of the Fallen brought their weapons up and fired.

She drew on her Light source as she ran and _pushed_ into the Arc force. It resisted at first, then gave way all at once, like a membrane tearing. A sharp _thrum_ resonated across her body.

 _Blink_.

Telysa landed on the other side of the Fallen. Their volley of Arc bolts sailed harmlessly through empty space.

The nearest vandal heard her feet crunch the ground and wheeled around. Telysa rammed her bayonet through its neck. She yanked the blade out and spun, whipping her knife out of her belt and into the other vandal's chest.

The remaining dregs panicked as they realized both their leaders were dead, and the enemy was in their midst. Telysa dodged as mad volley of arc-bolts crackled down the narrow hallway.

In their desperate attempt to shoot Telysa, the Fallen completely forgot Linvana. The Titan stepped back around the corner and poured her entire magazine into the dregs. A moment later, only two were left standing. Telysa finished them with two quick bursts of her pulse rifle.

Silence settled over the hallway. Linvana approached the door, gently stepping over the Fallen corpses.

"Why did they want to get in to this room? Polaris?" Linvana said.

"On it," her Ghost said. He appeared in front of the door and began probing it.

Telysa stepped forward. Something dripped on the floor beside her boot. She looked down and blinked as she saw a line of blood trailing down her forearm. It came from a hole in her elbow. The fabric around it was cleanly torn, with no burn marks.

"Hey," she said, "You shot me."

"Yeah well," Lin replied, "Maybe you shouldn't have over-extended."

Telysa rolled her eyes as Azul transmatted the bullet out and began healing the wound.

Polaris continued to work at the lock. Why was it taking so long to get it open? They were wasting time down here. The real problem was upstairs. Once they dealt with Akraviks, the rest of the crew wouldn't be a problem.

"Got it," Polaris said. Something clicked within the door. The four panels slid open a moment later.

A constellation of red and white dots twinkled in the darkness beyond. Lights flickered further in, revealing a room filled with stacks of black, angular computer banks.

Azul flew forward and began scanning the computers. "This server farm is actively receiving data from both the Cosmodrome…and somewhere deep in the Hellas Basin. And it's transmitting to points in multiple orbitals around Mars. I think this room is a control node for the Martian warsat network."

"If the Fallen had gotten in here, and cracked the encryption," Polaris added, "They could have taken control of every warsat in the cis-Martian region."

"That would be very bad," Linvana said, "Same thing they tried to pull with the S.A.B.E.R.-2. Instead, they found a remote, forgotten bunker to break into, where they hoped nobody would notice."

"Well now they know this place is here," Telysa noted, surveying the server farm, "And even if we fight them off today, we don't have enough manpower to set up a permanent outpost here. They'll just keep coming back."

"That means we only have one choice," Linvana said. She raised her hand. Flames burst from her gauntlet, and a golden hammer appeared with a metallic ring.

"We have to destroy it."

* * *

 _After a brief review, we came to the decision that destroying the network node was the best course of action, given the circumstances. With more manpower, we could have secured the facility for study, but our resources are already spread thin across the entire system. Drastic measures had to be taken. I only hope the loss of the node hasn't compromised Rasputin's capabilities on Mars._

 _Once we finished with the server farm, we began searching the rest of the complex. We quickly realized it would take us hours to cover the entire facility. We decided to split up. Telysa went up to the surface, while I continued to sweep the bunkers. After a few minutes, she confirmed our initial suspicions; Fallen squads were looting the facility's storehouses and loading Warsat parts onto Akraviks's ketch. Shortly afterwards, her line went dark. Apparently, the Fallen had learned of our presence in the complex, and activated a jamming field._

 _CONTINUED_

* * *

Azul closed the channel with a click. Telysa felt a pang of regret for lying to her wife, but, well, she would explain and apologize later. Lin would insist on holding back and waiting until they could regroup to engage the Fallen. But if she waited any longer, Akraviks would escape. Telysa had vowed to never let that happen again.

The wind tugged at her hood as she peeked over the edge of the roof. Harsh floodlights illuminated dozens of Fallen as they scurried back and forth in the swirling snow and dust, loading stacks of Warsat parts into the gravity lift in the far corner of the yard. A column of blue light stretched from the lift, up into the swirling darkness above. The hovering ketch was only visible through the storm when intermittent flashes of lightning illuminated the hull.

Telysa directed her attention back to the yard. The Fallen were almost finished loading their loot onto the ketch. Overseeing it all from the back, was Akraviks.

He was much like Telysa remembered. He stood about three meters tall, which wasn't particularly large for a high-ranking Fallen, but he wasn't small either. His armor was complex, with numerous wires and tubes sprouting from it. Various modifications he'd made over the years. The plate was pale blue, the color of the House of Winter, though the Winter symbols had been scratched off, and his cloak was now dark purple.

His most distinctive feature though, was his arm. The end of his upper left forearm was gone, replaced with a long, serrated sword blade. The length of cold steel was nearly as tall as Telysa, and it glinted in the light of the floodlights.

Telysa remembered getting stabbed by that blade all too well.

She glanced around the edges of the yard. The other buildings were too low to jump to without exposing herself. Reflexively, she drew on her Arc source and coated herself with a thin layer of Light. But instead of making her body vanish from sight, it merely dissipated with a faint pop. She could feel it _almost_ working, like a musical note ever so slightly beyond her range.

She exhaled and set her jaw. One way or another, she would make this work. She might have lost her invisibility, but she _was_ stronger, more attuned to the Arc energy in her body. Now, she just had to learn to be more…direct.

So what were her choices here? His armor was too strong for sniping, and trying to punch through it with her machine gun would take too long. That left one option.

Telysa took two steps back from the edge, stood up straight, and jumped.

She yanked on her Arc source as she fell. Sharp buzzing blossomed from her chest and exploded from her limbs in a flurry of electricity. She took the current in her hands and willed it into a solid shape.

The spear struck the ground like a lightning bolt, vaporizing the small squad of Fallen around her. She stood up as thunder rumbled across the cloud-tops above, as if the storm was answering her blow.

The rest of the Fallen in the yard, maybe two-dozen or so, spun to face her as they drew their weapons.

"Akraviks!" she shouted, surprised at how horse her voice was, "Remember me?"

The Splicer captain howled, and the Fallen opened fire.

Telysa was already on the move. She dodged, pushing her body sideways with the Light, then blinked towards the nearest Fallen. She swept her spear out in a horizontal slash and sliced three dregs in half.

A vandal jumped at her, shock blade raised. Telysa blocked with the haft of her spear. The blade bounced off with an electric pop. She shoved the vandal back and impaled it.

She leapt towards the next clump of Fallen. They scrambled back in fear. Telysa landed in a slide, the electric charge coating her body making her limbs near frictionless. She lashed out at the dregs and vandals as she slid between them.

Several more Fallen rushed her, trying to overwhelm her with sheer numbers. Telysa stabbed with quick thrusts, puncturing their bodies. In a few quick moments, they were all dead.

Telysa spun, searching for more prey. Already, she had killed more than half of the Fallen in the yard. Only Akraviks and two squads near the gravity lift remained. She crouched, preparing to leap towards the remaining lesser Fallen. Once they were dealt with, she could focus on him.

Akraviks raised his arm and shouted a single, guttural word. The dregs and vandals froze and looked at Akraviks. Telysa hesitated, confused. What was he trying?

The Fallen captain growled at his subordinates. They jumped into motion, but instead of attacking Telysa, they retreated to the gravity lift. In a few moments, they were gone, whisked up to the Ketch above. What? Why would he order his crew to leave?

Akraviks turned to her. A tense stillness settled over the yard. The wind continued to howl, and the frost whipped around them, but they were alone.

"I remember you," Akraviks purred, his thick voice forming the words slowly but deliberately. "I remember…scared little thief, too slow to save her…friend."

Telysa exhaled slowly, her pulse pounding in her temples. She'd thought that eight years would have dulled the sting of the humiliation. The pain. The shame.

It hit her all at once. Suddenly, she wasn't on Mars anymore. She was back on Venus, running through the jungle, desperately trying to find her bearings. Hours passed in a panicked blur. Then she was fighting through dozens of Fallen, pushing frantically towards the source of the tortured screams. Finally, she was floating beneath a waterfall, barely conscious, one hand clutching a wet and unresponsive Warlock, the other wrapped around a jutting rock. Blood leaked from her thigh as Akraviks watched from the top of the cliff.

She took hold of the memories and shoved them down. This was not the time or place to wallow in her past failures. She relaxed her grip on her Arc source, letting the film of electricity coating her body dissipate. Only her spear remained.

"Why did you send them away?" Telyas asked, pointing at the gravity lift.

"Dregs are nothing to you. Why waste obedient crew?" Akraviks said, "Only fight that matters is us."

The captain threw down his shrapnel launcher down and drew a shock blade from the sheath at his waist. He fell into a combat stance, his sword arm pointed forward, the shock blade raised above his head.

"Because fight me is what you want," Akraviks rumbled, "Yesss?"

"Oh indeed."

Telysa blinked forward, thrusting her spear as she teleported. Akraviks twitched and swatted the spear aside with his sword arm. She started to bring her spear around for a follow up, but he brought down his other sword with startling speed. She just barely dodged the blow.

Traveler's shadow, she'd forgotten how fast he was.

She struck with a low slash, and again connected with his crackling blade. Then he retaliated, hacking at her with a staccato flurry of blows. Telysa reluctantly went on the defensive, frenetically blocking his attacks. He had a significant strength and reach advantage. A direct attack just wouldn't work against him.

She ducked underneath a slash from his sword arm. Before he could stab her with the shock blade, she blinked forward, landing right behind him. She blindly thrust backwards, and felt the spear connect with his leg. Thunder rumbled above.

Akraviks spun around before she could land a second blow, sparks trailing from the armor on his leg. Again he began to batter her with a wild, unpredictable rain of blows. He fought with savage ferocity, his moves driven by barely contained rage.

Telysa moved to blink again, and Akraviks started to turn, anticipating another attack from behind. Instead, she dodged right, and raised her spear, ready to -

Akraviks's foot lashed out and struck her square in the chest.

Her stomach lurched as she tumbled backwards. She crashed against something solid and slid to a stop in the dirt.

How had he known she would try a feint?

Telysa scrambled to her feet. Akraviks loomed over her. She raised her spear in both hands to block his double overhand blow.

The electrified blades bounced off her crackling staff with a brilliant flash that blinded her through her helmet visor. She stumbled back, spots flashing across her vision. Where was he?

His sword slash came from the side. She blocked it with the blade of her spear, but that left her torso exposed to his next kick.

This time, she felt something crack in her ribcage as she flew back and slammed against the wall. Pain flared across her chest. Two of her ribs were definitely broken, possibly more. She sucked down gasps of air as Azul began to heal the damage.

Her spear flickered in her hand. Her reserves of Arc energy were dangerously low, almost gone completely. But there was something else, something just beyond her reach. A massive reservoir of electric potential all around her.

The Arc storm.

Telysa groaned and fought her way to her feet. Fresh pain surged in her chest, but she didn't have time to let Azul finish. Akraviks was still there. He had retrieved his shrapnel launcher, and now stalked towards her.

So that was it. Eight years of training and painful experience, and she still barely lasted a minute against him.

She remembered fighting through the Fallen back on Venus, recklessly dashing through their ranks. Finally, she'd burst into the cliffside clearing, where Akraviks stood over her teammate, who writhed in agony as the Fallen captain killed him again and again and again. Her vision went red at the sight, and she charged Akraviks.

The exchange lasted only a few moments and ended with Akraviks's sword arm through her leg. Desperate, she grabbed her teammate and leaped over the cliff, plunging into the acidic water thirty meters below.

It was only later, after the river deposited them on a rocky beach, that she realized Akraviks had taken her teammate's Ghost. Without his Ghost, it'd taken the Warlock months to recover. No more cheating death for him. He never went on a single mission again.

And Telysa? She threw herself into her missions, taking every bounty she could find, no matter how remote or how difficult they were. She lost touch with her old team, and tried to fill the gaping hole in her heart by killing every alien she could get her hands on. She blamed herself for not reacting faster, for not being a better fighter, for not realizing the Ghost was missing. But in the end, it didn't matter, because Akraviks was too strong. She'd done the best she could.

The knot of anger and self-loathing she'd kept buried for eight long years finally began to unravel. Linvana had dragged her out of her downward spiral years ago, but the nagging insecurity had persisted. Well, not any more. She was not the sum of her past failures.

Something shifted deep in her chest. Electric anticipation began to tingle in her fingers. Around Telysa, the air started to hum. Akraviks drew up short, watching at her with obvious unease.

Fresh clarity filled her mind, wiping away the pain of her memories. With the clarity came acceptance, both from herself, and the storm raging overhead.

With a shout, she leapt into the air, soaring high above the ground on a cushion of Light and power. She raised her spear as she began to fall, and the storm answered. A lightning bolt raced down through the clouds, past the ketch, and straight through the glowing spear in her hands.

She struck the ground with a flash of light and power. The earth split and burned under the force of her impact. Akraviks was thrown clear across the yard by the explosive blast.

For a brief moment, she held the power of a thousand storms in her hands.

Then her body melted into blind oblivion.

Telysa gasped as icy sensation flooded her body.

She rolled on to her side and coughed up a wad of bloody mucus. She laid there a moment, chest heaving as her body recovered from the resurrection.

The cold wind bit at her face. She wasn't wearing her helmet.

Linvana stooda short distance away, her own slate gray helmet tucked under her arm.

"I'm impressed," Linvana said, "Whatever you did, I felt it four levels down. Brontis would be proud."

Telysa groaned and forced her way to her knees. The ground beneath her was blackened, and beside her was a small crater. She glanced around the still and darkened yard.

"Where is he?" she asked.

"Akraviks? He was gone when I got here," Linvana replied, "I came up just in time to see the Ketch vanish in the clouds."

Telysa sighed and stood up. Her legs trembled like she'd just run fifty kilometers. She stooped and retrieved her helmet and rifle. Above them, the Arc storm had almost completely passed, and a few stars were shining through.

"There was no jamming field, was there?" Linvana said.

Telysa closed her eyes, a fresh wave of shame washing over her. "No," she admitted.

Linvana shook her head. "You just wanted a shot at Akraviks. Don't think I didn't notice how you were acting. We've run dozens of missions without a hitch, but this time, you could barely control yourself. Why?"

Telysa exhaled. "I don't know."

Linvana stepped forward and laid her hand on Telysa's shoulder. "Hey," she said softly. Telysa slowly met her eyes.

"I'm here for you," Lin said, "Whatever happened with you and Akraviks in the past, it clearly hurt you. You can tell me Telysa. I'm your wife."

Telysa gave a wan smile. "I know, and I probably don't deserve you. I'm sorry. I promise I'll tell you on the way back to the Rangers' Den."

Linvana nodded and slipped her helmet on. Telysa did the same.

"Cayde," Linvana said, pressing her hand against her ear, "You there?"

The Exo's voice crackled a moment later. "Hey you two. Please tell me Akraviks is finally dead."

"I wish I could sir. We stopped him, but he got away…we lost him. We'll send you a full report as soon as we can."

"Ah well, probably was too much to hope for in the first place. And I'm sure whatever you two did was amazing anyways. Get home safe. Cayde out."

* * *

 _In summary, we were able to deny the Fallen access to the Warmind network. Akraviks has gone to ground, but he is now in possession of an unknown quantity of warsat technology. I don't need to explain to you how dangerous that technology is. If the Fallen manage to reverse engineer it, we could have a serious problem on our hands. I recommend marking Akraviks as a top-priority target, and re-upping his bounty by a minimum of 100%. He needs to be stopped._

 _END OF REPORT_


End file.
